Grand Master Visits New Zealand

------------Stephen Yan 1998

Master
Long-Chang Yan is one of the top Kung-Fu masters in China today .He is the
leading master of the Xin Yi Six Harmony internal Kung-Fu system ,which is
recognized in China as the most powerful and secretive martial art ,and is also
regarded as being the most vicious, and therefore the most feared system. It is
also known as Ten Animal Xin-Yi Six Harmony.

The
ten animals that the system bases its movements on ,are the Dragon, Tiger,
Bear, Horse, Monkey, Snake, Chicken, Swallow, Sparrow Hawk ,and the Eagle .It
has a huge difference from the Twelve Animal Xin-Yi Six harmony .Ten Animal
Xin-Yi Six Harmony is not as popular as the Twelve Animal Xin-Yi system
,because of the strict criteria for selecting students to carry forward the art
.

Each
movement requires different parts of the body to possess the characteristics of
five of the 10 animals. These are as follows .The body should contract and expand
,like a dragon .The legs and feet should move like a fast walking chicken .The
head and neck should contract and expand like a tiger before, and as it strikes
.The shoulders and arms should be relaxed, like a bear ,and the hands and
fingers should be like the claws of an eagle .All of these are governed by
delivering the internal power from the Dan Tian,called “thunder”.

The
art also requires six harmonies—three external,and three internal .The external
harmonies are the shoulder matching the hip,the elbow matching the knee,and the
hand matching the foot . The internal harmonies are the spirit matching the
mind,the mind matching the chi,and the chi matching the strength. These
six harmonies make the internal and external components of the body move in
unison ,as one .

The
body as a whole is broken into three sections ,and each section is further
broken down to three subsections .The three main sections are the arms ,which
are considered the end section ,the body ,which is the middle section ,and the
legs ,which are the root section .The Arms (end section )are further divided
into the hands ,being the ends of the arms ,the elbows are the middle of the
arms ,and the shoulders are at the root .The legs are divided into the feet
,which are the end section ,the knees ,which are the middle section ,and the
hips ,which are the root section .The body is also divided into three sections
.The head is the end section ,the back and chest is the middle section ,and the
dan tian is the root section of the body .Each of these nine sections are used
as weapons for striking ,and they are called the “15 fists”—two shoulders ,two
elbows ,two hands two hips ,two knees ,two feet ,one head ,one back ,and one
dan tian .

Xin-Yi
Six Harmony is mainly practiced by repeating single movements until excellence
in that movement is achieved .A different movement is then practiced .During
the practice of each movement ,the continuity of the movement should be
unbroken .When all of the movements are mastered ,then the movements are practiced
flowing from one to the next ,instinctively ,with no pre-arranged order.

In
free-sparring ,Xin-Yi Six Harmony places emphasis on the body movement and
footwork primarily .It requires one single strike to finish the encounter .If
the first strike does not end the battle ,then the rest of the movements are
instinctively generated to take advantage of the available gaps in the
opponents’defence.

This
is thought of as “chasing the wind” or “racing the moon” (across a cloudy
night sky ),without a moments hesitation ,until the opponent is finished .After
striking the opponent down ,the fighter still looks down on himself for not
hitting the opponent harder and faster .

Xin-Yi
Six Harmony not only has 10 animals ,but also includes 5 elements (fists),and
the different weapons training.

In
1983 ,a Japanese martial arts delegation traveled to China to visit Master Yan .They
wanted to photograph and film Master Yans’art ,but were refused .Master Yan
demonstrated the art for them ,and afterwards ,invited anyone in the delegation
to come up and spar with him ,but no one dared .

In
the last 300 years ,only a few people from each generation have had the
opportunity to learn this system .The world outside China
has never been introduced to Xin-Yi Six Harmony until Master Yans’ visit to New Zealand .

Master
Yan will give demonstrations and workshops to martial artists of all styles.

For further information ,please contact his New Zealand disciple –Stephen Yan.

on
(04)471-1818.

New Zealand
Wu Tao Academy.

Please note any spelling mistakes or gramatical errors
belong to the translator and not Dr. Yan